Browsing by Subject "security"

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    Open Access
    Internet of Things in organisations: artefactual characteristics that influence adoption
    (2025) Tshilenge, Henry Busaka; Brown, Irwin
    Background: The Internet of Things (IoT) has gained significant attention from businesses and academia. IoT promises are ambitious: creating, collecting, and sharing information independently of time, place, and motion. Things are rendered autonomous, able to identify themselves, network with other objects, and analyse the data they produce. IoT systems are used in some organisations to improve efficiency and facilitate trade in commodities and services. These systems help prevent errors, monitor operations, track assets, deter theft, and integrate complex systems through real-time data collection and analysis. Problem Statement: IoT promises many benefits, which are already tangible in the agriculture, logistics, retail, and supply chain sectors. However, some organisations still adopt IoT hesitantly, while others still hold a conservative stance. Little is known about its adoption in organisations based on its artefactual characteristics. Purpose: This study explores the artefactual characteristics of the Internet of Things that lead to its adoption and implementation in organisations. The focus is on the impact of identified IoT characteristics on its adoption as reflected by the continuance intention. Methodology: The study adopted a quantitative survey strategy and collected data via the Academic Prolific Online Panel1, with a sample of 293 participants from South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Findings: The results indicate that IoT characteristics closely aligned with business needs, such as relative advantage (profitability), Compatibility (alignment with values), seamless integration, and self-adaptation (intelligent, efficient operation and future growth), significantly influence IoT adoption as reflected by the continuance intention in organisations. The study went beyond the traditional Technology-Organisational-Environment (TOE) framework technology characteristics adapted from the Diffusion of Innovation framework, such as relative advantage, complexity, and compatibility. In addition, the findings revealed that integration and self-adaptation (i.e., intelligence) significantly influence technology adoption, as reflected by continuance intention. The research contributes to the knowledge of IoT. The study recommends that future research look further into the technocentric characteristics such as connectivity, security and interoperability, which were unexpectedly found not to influence adoption as reflected by the continuance intention.
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    Open Access
    Meditative Reflections on Nils Christie’s "Words on Words" - through an African lens
    (Taylor & Francis, 2013) Froestad, Jan; Shearing, Clifford
    Like so much else that comes from the pen of Nils Christie, his "Words on Words" that have inspired this special issue, and with which it begins, have, as they so often do, inspired us to engage in a meditative reflection on his words and their implications for our thinking and practice. We have sought, through these reflections on the wisdom of Christie’s words, to better understand the security governance practices we have been studying, developing and, sometimes, promoting.
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    Security for networked smart healthcare systems: A systematic review
    (2022) Ndarhwa, Nyamwezi Perfect; Malila, Bessie; Douglas, Tania
    Background and Objectives Smart healthcare systems use technologies such as wearable devices, Internet of Medical Things and mobile internet technologies to dynamically access health information, connect patients to health professionals and health institutions, and to actively manage and respond intelligently to the medical ecosystem's needs. However, smart healthcare systems are affected by many challenges in their implementation and maintenance. Key among these are ensuring the security and privacy of patient health information. To address this challenge, several mitigation measures have been proposed and some have been implemented. Techniques that have been used include data encryption and biometric access. In addition, blockchain is an emerging security technology that is expected to address the security issues due to its distributed and decentralized architecture which is similar to that of smart healthcare systems. This study reviewed articles that identified security requirements and risks, proposed potential solutions, and explained the effectiveness of these solutions in addressing security problems in smart healthcare systems. Methods This review adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines and was framed using the Problem, Intervention, Comparator, and Outcome (PICO) approach to investigate and analyse the concepts of interest. However, the comparator is not applicable because this review focuses on the security measures available and in this case no comparable solutions were considered since the concept of smart healthcare systems is an emerging one and there are therefore, no existing security solutions that have been used before. The search strategy involved the identification of studies from several databases including the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAL), Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, Medline, Excerpta Medical database (EMBASE), Ebscohost and the Cochrane Library for articles that focused on the security for smart healthcare systems. The selection process involved removing duplicate studies, and excluding studies after reading the titles, abstracts, and full texts. Studies whose records could not be retrieved using a predefined selection criterion for inclusion and exclusion were excluded. The remaining articles were then screened for eligibility. A data extraction form was used to capture details of the screened studies after reading the full text. Of the searched databases, only three yielded results when the search strategy was applied, i.e., Scopus, Web of science and Medline, giving a total of 1742 articles. 436 duplicate studies were removed. Of the remaining articles, 801 were excluded after reading the title, after which 342 after were excluded after reading the abstract, leaving 163, of which 4 studies could not be retrieved. 159 articles were therefore screened for eligibility after reading the full text. Of these, 14 studies were included for detailed review using the formulated research questions and the PICO framework. Each of the 14 included articles presented a description of a smart healthcare system and identified the security requirements, risks and solutions to mitigate the risks. Each article also summarized the effectiveness of the proposed security solution. Results The key security requirements reported were data confidentiality, integrity and availability of data within the system, with authorisation and authentication used to support these key security requirements. The identified security risks include loss of data confidentiality due to eavesdropping in wireless communication mediums, authentication vulnerabilities in user devices and storage servers, data fabrication and message modification attacks during transmission as well as while the data is at rest in databases and other storage devices. The proposed mitigation measures included the use of biometric accessing devices; data encryption for protecting the confidentiality and integrity of data; blockchain technology to address confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data; network slicing techniques to provide isolation of patient health data in 5G mobile systems; and multi-factor authentication when accessing IoT devices, servers, and other components of the smart healthcare systems. The effectiveness of the proposed solutions was demonstrated through their ability to provide a high level of data security in smart healthcare systems. For example, proposed encryption algorithms demonstrated better energy efficiency, and improved operational speed; reduced computational overhead, better scalability, efficiency in data processing, and better ease of deployment. Conclusion This systematic review has shown that the use of blockchain technology, biometrics (fingerprints), data encryption techniques, multifactor authentication and network slicing in the case of 5G smart healthcare systems has the potential to alleviate possible security risks in smart healthcare systems. The benefits of these solutions include a high level of security and privacy for Electronic Health Records (EHRs) systems; improved speed of data transaction without the need for a decentralized third party, enabled by the use of blockchain. However, the proposed solutions do not address data protection in cases where an intruder has already accessed the system. This may be potential avenues for further research and inquiry.
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    Security, privacy and institutional logics: conduit to South African citizens' e-government service adoption
    (2026) Bayaga, Anass; Kyobe, Michael
    Background and context: This current research examines the acceptance of e-government services in South Africa, advancing privacy calculus theory and incorporating institutional logics to construct a conceptual model for understanding the socio-cultural and technical constructs influencing acceptance. The research assesses the influence of security risks (SR), privacy risks (PR), and institutional logics (InsLog), by examining two research questions: (1) To what extent do security risks, privacy risks, and institutional logics affect e-government acceptance? (2) How can a conceptual model integrate these constructs advance insight of adoption behaviors in developing settings? Methodology: The research hinges on a positivist paradigm, assuming an objective ontological viewpoint where reality exists externally or independently of social constructs, and an epistemological view highlighting empirical testing of causal associations. Data were collected from 149 respondents in urban and peri-urban areas of the City of Umhlathuze, South Africa. The conceptual model was established utilizing partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to assess direct adoption pathways, interaction effects, and moderated adoption configuration as well as model fit. Theoretical and Conceptual Framework: The conceptual framework incorporates privacy calculus theory and institutional logics to examine how socio-cultural and technical constructs affect e-government acceptance. Institutional logics are postulated to directly affect e-government acceptance by embedding socio-cultural perspectives into respondents decision-making procedures. This adoption configuration investigates the degree to which these norms drive acceptance behaviors. In other words, institutional logic profiles the way citizens view and approach the acceptance of e-government services, rendering them a key determining factor. This is denoted by the pathway InsLog → e-gov adoption. Security risks are projected to negatively influence acceptance by creating perceptions of vulnerability and mistrust in e-government systems. The adoption pathway examines how concerns about security, such as fears of fraud, hacking, or data breaches, can prevent users from accepting these services. This configuration is represented by the pathway SR → e-gov adoption. Analogously, privacy risks are conceived to influence acceptance by influencing citizens' perceptions of data misuse or exposure. This pathway assesses whether concerns about the misuse of personal data or privacy violations considerably reduce the prospect of accepting e-government services. This is represented by the pathway PR → e-gov adoption. Institutional logics are also theorized to moderate the effects of security and privacy risks. This configuration assesses whether socio-cultural norms do reduce or increase the effect of these risks on adoption choices. In this setting, institutional logics may either improve or exacerbate the perceived value of security and privacy concerns, conditional on the cultural and societal context. These connections are characterized by the pathways InsLog x SR → e-gov adoption and InsLog x PR → e-gov adoption. To conclude, demographics (age, education, and income) are assessed for their moderating effects on the connection between institutional logics and e-government adoption. This pathway assesses whether these demographic factors influence how institutional logics affect adoption. These connections are characterized by the pathway InsLog x Demographics → e-gov adoption. This framework combines socio-cultural and technical constructs to provide an inclusive model for understanding acceptance behaviors, especially in developing country settings. By incorporating institutional logics into privacy calculus theory, the framework explores the limitations of existing models, which often overstate technical risks while overlooking the effects of socio-cultural constricts on acceptance. Results: Guided by research question 1: To what extent do security risks, privacy risks, and institutional logics affect e-government acceptance? The findings show that institutional logics significantly affect e-government acceptance (β = 0.444, t = 5.722, p < 0.001), explaining 23.4% of the difference (R² = 0.234). Security risks (β = 0.003, p = 0.951) and privacy risks (β = -0.118, p = 0.130) show no significant direct effect on acceptance, implying their limited influence in this setting. In the case of research question 2: How can a conceptual model integrating these constructs advance understanding of acceptance in developing settings? The conceptual model confirms institutional logics as the leading driver of acceptance, accentuating the role of socio-cultural norms. Moderating effects - demographic factors- (InsLog x Demographics → e-gov adoption, p > 0.05) and the interaction between risks and institutional logics (InsLog x SR → e-gov adoption, β = 0.067, p = 0.314; InsLog x PR → e-gov adoption, β = -0.092, p = 0.284), were non-significant. These results point out the dominance of socio-cultural constructs over technical concerns in e-government acceptance behaviors. Contributions: The research contributes to theory by extending privacy calculus theory to incorporate institutional logics, exploring the gap in understanding the socio-cultural determining factor of e-government acceptance. The conceptual framework focusses on the significant role of institutional logics as a contributing factor of adoption, contrasting the limited effects of security and privacy risks. The model underlines the need for an expansive socio-cultural perception in assessing e-government acceptance, specifically in developing settings were institutional norms model user behaviors. This theoretical development offers a basis for incorporating cultural and demographic nuances into technology adoption models. The research establishes the value of PLS-SEM in evaluating multi-faceted adoption configurations and validating a conceptual model that incorporates socio-cultural construct into e-government acceptance research. This methodological consideration improves the tools accessible for examining technology adoption in diverse settings. Recommendations: The results offer actionable direction for policymakers and practitioners: • Design e-government programs that align with socio-cultural norms and institutional logics to improve citizens commitment and engagements. • Execute targeted digital literacy programs to reduce inequalities in access and usability. To conclude, this research advances both theoretical and methodological insights of e-government acceptance by offering a validated conceptual framework that highlights the predominance of institutional logics. These understandings serve as a ground for developing comprehensive, culturally supported digital public services in developing settings.
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    Understanding Railway Trespassing in a South African City: The Case Of Cape Town
    (2020) Williams, Faizel; Vanderschuren, Marianne
    Trespassing behaviour is a problem for railway operations and manifests itself through train-pedestrian collisions, incidents of theft and vandalism to rail infrastructure, as well as encroachment on railway property. The study has consisted of a quantitative and a qualitative part. The quantitative part analyses demographic, temporal and spatial data on train-pedestrian fatalities and injuries, as well as data on occurrences of theft and malicious damage to rail infrastructure in the Cape Town Functional Region between 2015 and 2018. The qualitative part presents the perspective from a diverse group of subject matter experts, having explored opinions on trespassing behaviours and preventative measures. Additionally, the trespassing behaviour at several sites was investigated and a case study evaluation of the efficacy of a pilot Rail Enforcement Unit was carried out. There were 456 railway-related deaths during the study period with 330 of this being train-pedestrian collisions. There were 4715 occurrences of theft and malicious damage to railway assets over the period. Several hot-spot areas were identified via the data and interviews with experts and several sites chosen for further verification. Site visits confirmed widespread trespassing behaviours with the two worst locations recording an average of over 300 persons in a 15-minute period. The case study reviewing the effectiveness of the security and enforcement countermeasure revealed that occurrences of train-pedestrian incidents, as well as security occurrences have increased by 1.4% and 7.5% respectively. Evidence of geographical displacement of crime is evident, suggesting that enforcement countermeasures are temporarily effective and need to be considered in combination with other measures to ensure its durability. In conclusion, this research presents a detailed analysis of railway trespassing and its main effects in order to understand the problem locally. Different approaches are required to combat the various guises of railway trespassing. Certain countermeasures may well be within the rail operator's remit, but essentially, the nature of problems experienced by the rail operator is beyond a rail problem, and requires a systems approach involving multiple authorities